Crowd-Funded Adoptions

It's no secret that adoption is costly. Throughout the process, fees are incurred by government agencies, social services, adoption agencies, foreign governments, and travel arrangements. It is unfortunate that we live in a world where it is so expensive to adopt an orphan in need of a home- yet thousands of families take on this financial burden to answer the call of adoption.

CNN ran an article about an adoptive family who recieved an incredible show of support for their adoption through the blog Humans of New York (read here). Duane Watkins happened to be photographed for the site, which chronicles the lives of New Yorkers through photos with deeply insightful captions. He asked HONY creator, Brandon Stanton, if the photo could help bring home their second child from Ethiopia- and their $26,000 campaign on crowd-funding site Indiegogo was funded in less than ninety minutes. The donations didn't stop there- over $80,000 has been raised.

Crowdfunding is “the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.” Everything from music albums to startup businesses have been crowdfunded- and there are many opportunities to support a cause like adoption. Check out Pure Charity– this link takes you directly to all of the America World families using this resource to fund their adoption!

As one AW parent said, “adoptive families have been crowdfunding way before it was hip and cool.” It's true – although sites like Pure Charity and Kickstarter are part of a growing trend, adoption expenses have long caused families to use their creativity to raise the necessary support. We've seen many families use classic methods such as yard sales or t-shirt fundraisers. Beyond the monetary value, crowdfunding in adoption will allow your support network to have a direct role in bringing your child home while becoming more aware of the needs in international orphan care.

If you feel called to adopt but are uncertain about the finances, please contact us for resources or check out one of the sites above. Likewise, if you would like to help an adoptive family, there are many opportunities. Let's work together to bring more children home to their forever families!